Suffolk Coronavirus: Farmer Sends Mask To NY, Touches Hearts

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A farmer from Kansas touched hearts across the country — and Suffolk County — with a letter read by Gov. Andrew Cuomo during his press briefing Friday.

The letter was written by Dennis, a retired farmer who said he and his wife Sharon were "hunkered down" during the coronavirus crisis. His wife has one lung and the occasional problem with her remaining long; she also has diabetes, he said.

"We are in our 70s now and frankly, I am afraid for her," he wrote.

Dennis reached out to Cuomo, sending a "solitary" N95 mask he had left over from his farming days that he said he would like to see given to a nurse or a doctor in New York. "It has never been used," he said. "I have kept four masks for my immediate family."

The farmer, Cuomo said, "had five masks, and he gave one to New York for a doctor or nurse. That generosity of spirit makes up for all the ugliness that you see. 'Take one mask; I'll keep four.' God bless America."

New masks for Suffolk seniors

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said he stood in front of Stop & Shop in West Babylon Friday morning during senior hours distributing face coverings during senior hours. "You can see the need out there," he said.

He thanked New York State and the federal government for delivering nearly half a million face coverings to Suffolk County, which will be distributed to older residents through town programs, food banks, and organizations including Island Harvest and Long Island Cares.

The goal, he said, is to make sure older residents can "make sure they are as safe as they can be."

Number of new cases rises again

As of Friday, there were 31,160 confirmed cases of coronavirus across Suffolk County.

The breakdown of cases according to town is as follows:

Islip: 8,940

Brookhaven: 6,454

Babylon: 5,068

Huntington: 3,637

Smithtown: 1,662

Southampton: 527

Riverhead: 359

Southold: 292

East Hampton: 141

Shelter Island: 7

To see a breakdown by hamlet or community, click here.

As the number of cases continues to rise, Bellone said while the number of new positive cases had dropped in recent days, over the past 24 hours, that number once again rose above 1,000.

Hospitalizations went down by 22; a total of 1,318 are currently hospitalized across the county.

The number of patients in ICU decreased by 16 to 478, Bellone said. Hospital capacity countywide stands at 3,346, with 799 ICU beds. There are currently 803 beds available, as well as 153 ICU beds.

A total of 132 patients went home over the past 24 hours. And a total of 34 deaths were reported, bringing the total to 993 lives lost in Suffolk County.

Paying tribute to a hero

Bellone and other county officials paid tribute Friday to Suffolk Auxiliary Police Capt. Anthony DeNoyior, who served as a volunteer for 18 years. He thanked DeNoyior and all the auxiliary police "who have stepped forward to volunteer their time and do so many things to help us and to protect public safety. In honor of Anthony, thank you for your service and sacrifices for the community."

The first Long Island Rail Road employee died of coronavirus, Bellone said; he thanked the LIRR family for "risking their own safety" and sent condolences on their loss.

Food to be distributed at mobile hot spot location

A sixth mobile hot spot testing site opened in Coram Friday, Bellone said. So far, across all the hot spot sites, 1,679 tests have been administered.

And with food security an ongoing issue both before and during the crisis — county officials have been taking calls on the 311 line and connecting those in need to community based organizations such as Long Island Cares, Long Island Harvest and others — a new pilot program will launch to distribute food to the needy at hot spot testing sites.

The new mobile hot spot testing site will open Friday at the HRHCare Elsie Owens Health Center in Coram, with a focus on reaching out to another community where language barriers may exist to provide not just testing but critical information.

Property tax relief

Bellone said officials are talking to Washington, DC about providing temporary tax relief for Suffolk homeowners and developing a workable plan that won't inflict damage on taxpayers and still allows government to function during its response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Under the federal relief bill, the CARES act, only counties with more than a 2 million population are able to access a short term borrowing program. Suffolk, the 26th largest county in the country and one of the hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, only has 1.5 million people.

Bellone sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin asking that the guidance be shifted to allow counties of Suffolk's size to have access to that opportunity, which it does not currently have.

"Tens of thousands have been impacted economically by this virus," Bellone said. "We've seen the devastation that's occurred. We need to do everything we can to provide relief."

Bellone thanked Rep. Lee Zeldin for his efforts to help and said, hopefully, the county would have a response soon.

He also thanked Zeldin Friday for helping him to facilitate a call with Mnuchin Thursday night, and to all who have sent letters asking that Suffolk be able to access the municipal liquidity facility.

Questions addressed at Zoom meeting for business owners

With an eye toward helping small business owners who are struggling due to the new coronavirus pandemic, Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming hosted a Zoom meeting online to outline relief measures Wednesday with Bernard Ryba, director of the Small Business Development Center at Stony Brook University.

The hour-long session included an overview of federal relief programs available to small businesses, cultural organizations and not-for-profits to help them in coping with and recovering from the business impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fleming said.

Included in the discussion was an overview of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act, she said.

A total of 53 small business participants signed on for the session, including small schools, retail establishments, owners of yoga studios and more.

"The main message for business owners is, 'Don't be overwhelmed,'" Fleming said. "Take the bull by the horns and submit your applications" for the next round of stimulus funding for small businesses. "Money is limited, and it is first come, first served," she said.

The application process has been streamlined and made easier, she said.

Interesting questions were posed about situations that have popped up during an unprecedented time, Fleming said. One Southampton business, she said, has 26 employees but only 10 can work at the store; under the Payroll Protection Program, with all paid, the owner had to decide who to pay to work and "who gets paid not to work," she said. "It's an interesting dilemma but the underlying principal is you want to you keep your current staff at a flat level so when we can turn the lights back on and reinvigorate the economy, those staff positions are filled and no one has fallen through the cracks."

Key, she said, is that the funding cannot be used to hire new employees; the intent is to keep current workers employed and save those jobs, as well as health insurance.

Some small businesses, Fleming said, have shifted online during the pandemic, showing that they are "creative and resilient," during a difficult time.

Anyone with questions for the Stony Brook University Small Business Development Center can call 631-652-9837 or click here.